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History · Saco

Saco’s post office opened in 1892, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Clack, H. Earl, Service Station and the Saco Mercantile. Its Register listings are the Clack, H. Earl, Service Station and the Saco Mercantile. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1920.

1892first post office
2on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Saco began

When was Saco founded?

1892

The Saco post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 425 in 19202020 census: 159134 years
Founding year: the first Saco post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Saco’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Saco are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 539 in 1950; 159 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1910 to 1930, drew every building in Saco.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Saco’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Saco’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Saco, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 539

Peaked at 539 in 1950; 159 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Saco’s Wikipedia page.

Every building

Saco, building by building, 1910–1930

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Saco fire insurance map, 1910, sheet 11910Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Saco came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Saco.

Read it all →

Faced with the task of naming hundreds of station stops along the High Line, Great Northern Railway officials resorted to "globe trotting." According to one story, an official spun a globe and put his finger on Saco, Maine, thus giving the town its name. Another story tells that the name is a contraction of "Sacajawea." For two years, Saco boasted the Guinness world record for making the world's largest hamburger, building the 6,040-pound burger from the beef of 17 cattle in 1999.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Saco, 1892 to 1950

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Saco post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1907BuiltSaco Mercantile is built
  6. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 539
By decade

Saco, decade by decade

Today9 recent
Saco MT USA June 13, 2025 - United States Post Office Building2025Saco MT USA June 13, 2025 - United States Post Office…Saco Montana Sign Looking East US22013Saco Montana Sign Looking East US2Saco Montana Park2013Saco Montana ParkSaco Montana Panorama 22013Saco Montana Panorama 2Saco Montana Panorama 12013Saco Montana Panorama 1Saco Montana Downtown and Water Tower2013Saco Montana Downtown and Water TowerSaco Mercantile (2013) - Phillips County, Montana2013Saco Mercantile (2013) - Phillips County, MontanaChet Huntley School2013Chet Huntley SchoolMTMap-doton-Saco2005MTMap-doton-Saco
On the map

Saco on the map, 1905 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Saco. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Saco on the 1905 USGS mapSaco on the 1984 USGS map1905Saco sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Saco.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Saco

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1994
Clack, H. Earl, Service Station
Clack, H. Earl, Service StationSaco Mercantile, built 1907
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Moderne1
Western Commercial1
Clack, H. Earl, Service StationModerne
Saco MercantileWestern Commercial · Built 1907

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Saco’s history

What year was Saco founded?

The Saco post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Saco?

Two places: the Clack, H. Earl, Service Station (listed 1994) and the Saco Mercantile (1997).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (9), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.